


heart (and shirt) stained red

by eraseallpicturesofron



Series: The Ficlet Instruments [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood is Chaotic, Alternate Universe - This World Inverted (Shadowhunters TV), Confident Alec Lightwood, Flirting, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Not as Confident Magnus Bane, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 21:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20645879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eraseallpicturesofron/pseuds/eraseallpicturesofron
Summary: “Ah, shoot, I’m so sorry, that looks so expensive, I didn’t mean to-”“It’s alright, really.""Oh. Alexander. Hi."(or: sometimes fate is spilling your drink on the shirt of the guy you have definitely been avoiding, and most definitely been crushing on.)





	heart (and shirt) stained red

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Person A is trying to maneuver through a crowd with a drink, but when someone bumps into them they lose their balance and spill their drink all over person B.
> 
> :)

The bar is barely even crowded, a smattering of people here and there with their heads down or amongst friends, which only adds to the humiliation when Magnus manages to get his foot caught in the leg of an empty chair and catches himself on the shoulder of a man whose crisp white polo, neatly pressed and everything, is now stained with overpriced red wine. 

Unable to tear his eyes from the stain—the awful stain that could come out easily with the snap of his fingers, if that were an option—Magnus rambles, “Ah, _shoot_, I’m so sorry, that looks so expensive, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright, really,” comes the response, and being able to portal away would be incredibly convenient right now. Maybe even fleeing to Mumbai and changing his name while he’s at it. 

Instead, Magnus tries to hide the fact that his heart is having palpitations and there is a swarm of butterflies flying around in his stomach, breathing softly, “Oh. Alexander. Hi.”

Alec’s bright smile shows off two rows of perfect white teeth, the kind that belong to the type of people who never needed braces as a kid, and hell if he isn’t so self-assured. Even with wine seeping into his shirt, he radiates unbridled confidence— that and the hair-gel make him seem more like a gay Kennedy than a local event planner. 

In that instant Magnus realizes that he’s still clinging on to Alec’s shoulder for balance, and though common sense and most of his emotional insecurities tell him to let go, the part of him that’s hundreds of years younger, and probably a hormonal teenager, tells him that there’s no shame holding on for just a second longer.

Alec’s eyes flicker between the stain on his shirt and Magnus’s face and there he goes, his inner flirt coming out with ease and with the confidence of someone who could never possibly be rejected, his upper teeth grazing his lip as he shifts his body to close the distance between the two of them. 

“Hi,” he says, and for a second the words on Magnus’s tongue fade away and he’s just staring, lips parted, before blinking himself back into reality.

“I really didn’t mean to,” he gestures vaguely at Alec’s chest, “it was an accident.”

“I assumed so much,” Alec shrugs, and though Magnus hardly knows him, there’s a voice in the back of his head that tells him Alec wouldn’t react this way if it were anyone else. “You wouldn’t spill a drink on me if you were trying to avoid me.”

The words aren’t critical, no malice drips from them, and upon the realization that Alec is teasing, Magnus doesn’t try to justify his obvious avoidance of him with the clichéd _“it’s not you, it’s me”_, or _“I’ve just been so busy”_, and instead shows off his own soft smile, admitting, “I’m sorry.”

“No apology necessary. You can buy me a drink and all will be forgiven.”

**Author's Note:**

> yayy au malec!! if you liked it, lemme know! comments/kudos/bookmarks >>>  
:)


End file.
